Not the worst way to spend a rainy day

I have 4 kids. You may or may not know this.

This, not unexpectedly, requires me to attempt to fulfill all of their 1,000,001 desires (I had to adjust 1, 001 for inflation- thank you Jimmy Carter). One of the guises these desires manifest themselves is motion picture films.

I've been forced to watch some of them many many many many times.

These are mostly odious dreck. Crap you've seen before. Even when rendered beautifully, the story can be nothing more than yet another re-tread (I'm looking at you, "Lion King"). The worst offenders, of late, are the CGI junk like "Shrek," wherein according to the formula there are jokes for parents and kids, and a nice little ditty tossed in at the end (see, "I'm a Believer" at the end of Shrek, or "Don't go Breakin' my heart" at the end of Chicken Little).

Formula sucks, in all its.....forms.

So, OK. You see my point - though it's been inartfully made.

Every now and then, though, life surprises you.

It's called "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" and is a rare gem of a flick. It's ostensibly the story of intrepid inventor and town-doofus Flint Lockwood, who wants to be a rock-star scientist. He has the lab coat, a secret lab, and daddy issues. He lives in a town called Swallow Falls, famous for its' sardines. Except sardines suck.

Hilarity ensues. Boy meets girl. Boy encounters conflict. Resolutions are found. According to the formula.

Well, no. This is one that works.

Perhaps casting Mr. T. as the town's cop is the trick. Or the voice-cast of Saturday Night Live regulars. Or the madcap quality of the movie, more resembling a Saturday morning Bugs Bunny Looney Tune than the gorgeous scenery of "Up." "Meatballs" seeks to be nothing more than a cartoon, and it's a funny one at that.

And I've seen it approximately 100 times. Give or take.

There's the great gag with the walking TV that pops up in odd places. Or Steve the Monkey who nearly steals the movie when battling gummy bears. Or the expanding town mayor. Or the walking commercial that is Baby Brent.

And it manages to question the "bigger/more is better" ethos of our culture. A meditation on fathers and sons, greed and excess, love of fame or renown vs. love itself.

Sigh. I've watched this too many times. But, all things considered as I sit next to my three-year old son and he giggles as he exclaims, "look daddy, the lady gets knocked down by a banana...doink!" - this aint so bad.

I liked the ratbirds, too.